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Baby Yogurt – Just what we need?

Yoplait is the latest yogurt maker to join the baby yogurt extravaganza. They are packaged in little cartons, they’re cute and they are “just for baby.” Because babies can’t eat regular yogurt, right? (Myth debunked: they can). Let’s find out what’s inside…

Notice the second ingredient. It’s sugar. There are 9 grams of sugar here – that’s about 2.5 teaspoons per serving. And we’re talking about an 85 gram “baby” serving (3 ounces), so it’s really more sugar than ideal. Since there is no pear juice or pear puree to sweeten the yogurt, it’s just sugar and naturally occurring lactose. Again, not ideal for a baby.

On the bright side, the color is from a natural source. Sadly, the “Pear” is just “pear flavored” and there is no actual pear in the yogurt.

Another unpleasant surprise is the corn starch. Sure, yogurt can have a bit of a runny or uneven texture, but just give it a stir and let baby learn how to eat real food without added ingredients to make it more smooth or “palatable.” Why condition baby to processed foods?

What to do at the supermarket:

- You can buy whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt and serve it to babies in the right portions. It’s cheaper and less processed.

- Choose USDA Organic with no rBST or rBGH. This means no GMO, no hormones and more inspections.

- If you want to flavor and sweeten baby’s yogurt, add fruit purees with no sugar. Avoid sweetening with honey, sugar and jam.

Bottom line: The package size is convenient and the ingredients aren’t “as bad” as adult yogurt, however there is no real reason why babies need their own yogurt, much less one with added sugar, added flavors and additives to improve texture.

I abhor Yoplait yogurts anyway. No self-respecting yogurt needs gelatin and lacks live cultures. Call it what it is: PUDDING.

mc

If they offered an organic version, we would purchase for our family.

BrianN

This is obscene.

James Cooper

Actual science tells us that there is absolutely no difference between milk from cows given rBSt and those who are not. And every major scientific society says that crops bred using biotechnology are identical in all ways to those that are not.
Stick to the sugar criticisms: there you are on firm ground.

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